The Serbian Orthodox Church has assessed that the pogrom of Kosmet Serbs on March 17, 2004, was the continuation of NATO bombing from 1999, along with previously unrecorded persecution, violence, murders and destruction of hundreds of Serb sanctities in Kosmet.

The communiqué reads that after the arrival of the international forces to the Province, more than 4,000 Serbs have been expelled in the March surge of violence, hundreds of their housed were destroyed, along with more than 30 sanctities, and new innocent victims have fallen.

All that happened in the presence of the international forces, stressed the Serbian Orthodox Church, while pointing that nobody has been held responsible for that crime.

It has been pointed that the number of those who were able to return to their households is minor and that the grand majority of destroyed and damaged monasteries and churches have not been renewed, while the traces of their existence are being erased.

In the meantime, a number of states have accepted the unilaterally proclaimed independence of the Province, contrary to the decisions of UN, thus making the violence and crimes not only unpunished, but actually awarded by crippling an internationally recognized state, emphasized the Serbian Orthodox Church

It has also been stressed that the verdict in the Hague Tribunal to the people who were defending their own country, along with acquittals of Albanian terrorists Haradinaj, Ejupi and others, confirm that the very bombing of the FR Yugoslavia had the goal to provide independence for Kosmet.

Five year ago, 19 Serb nationals were killed  in ethnic Albanian violence in Kosovo-Metohija from March 17 to 18, according to data confirmed by UNMIK and the Diocese of Raska-Prizren. Around 4,000 Kosovo Serbs were driven away from their homes, 561 Serb houses were set on fire and 35 Serb Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed.

Tens of Serbs were injured or beaten. According to UNMIK, 334 persons out of a total of 4,000 that left their homes in the upsurge of violence, have been temporarily placed in KFOR facilities. The rest of the expelled Serbs have found temporarily shelters across the province and in central Serbia.

UNMIK figures show that 561 Serb houses were destroyed and a further 218 severely damaged. According to the Diocese of Raska-Prizren, the number of demolished and damaged houses exceeds 1,000.

A UNESCO expert mission visited the majority of demolished Orthodox churches and monasteries in the province, and made the preliminary evaluation of the damage at $30 million. It is notable that some 150 Orthodox sacred sites have been burned down and destroyed since June 1999.

The Diocese of Raska-Prizren has released an updated list of 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries that were destroyed or severely damaged in last week’s outbreak of violence in Kosovo-Metohija.


Prizren (All Prizren churches were destroyed on March 17 and March 18)

Holy Virgin of Lyevish (14th century) burned inside

Church of Christ the Savior (14th century) burned

Cathedral of St. George (1856) burned and mined

Church of St. Nicholas (Tutic's church, 14th century) burned

Church of St. Nicholas (Runovic's church, 16th century) burned inside

Church of St. Kyriake (14th century, reconstructed later) burned, Potkaljaja quarter

Church of St. Panteleimon (14th century, reconstructed later) burned, Potkaljaja quarter

Church of St. Cosmas and Damian (14th century, reconstructed) burned, Potkaljaja quarter

Church of St. Kyriake, Zivinjane, near Prizren, mined (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 19 - Explosion completely destroys old Orthodox Church near Zivinjane village)

Holy Archangels Monastery (14th century), burned
Serbian Orthodox Seminary of Sts. Cyrillus of Methodius (UNMIK/KFOR Report March 17 - Orthodox Seminary in town centre & 3 Orthodox churches set on fire)

Bishop's residence in Prizren (now: 1) (UNMIK/KFOR Report - March 18: Archbishop seat, Archangel Monastery, an Orthodox Church and Orthodox Seminary set on fire & destroyed)

Orahovac

Church of St. Kyriake, (1852), Brnjaca, Orahovac 1852 (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 18 - Orthodox Church set on fire & destroyed in Brnjaca village)

Djakovica

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (16-19th century), burned, along with the parish home, on March 17, razed to the ground during the following days

Cathedral church of the Holy Trinity (two bell-towers which survived the 1999 mining were razed to the ground. Kosovo Albanians removed all material from the site in the following days, UNMIK/KFOR Report March 18 - Rioters remove debris of destroyed Orthodox Church with trucks & trailers Approx 5,000 K-Albanians participate.)

Church of St. Lazarus, Piskote, near Djakovica, reported destroyed (confirmed from an international source)

Church of St. Elias, near Bistrazin, damaged after the war and now completely destroyed (confirmed by Bishop Atanasije Jevtic)

Srbica

Devic Monastery (15th century) burned to the ground, the tomb of St. Ioanichius of Devic opened and desecrated. The tomb of the saint was set on fire. (UNMIK/KFOR Report March 18: 2,000 protestors gather and move towards Devic Monastery, Five K-Serbian nuns evacuated from area, Violent protestors set Monastery on fire)

Pec

Church of St. John the Baptist (Metropolia, along with the parish home) burned (confirmed from local international sources in Pec)

Church of Virgin Mary, Belo Polje nr. Pec, burned again inside and desecrated inside, (confirmed by Bishop Atanasije Jevtic who visited the site)

Church of St. John the Baptist (Pecka banja), reported burned (from local international sources)

Urosevac

Cathedral of St. Uros the Emperor, Urosevac, (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 17 - 3 hand grenades thrown at Serbian Orthodox church – church set on fire, first time), at least 19 KFOR soldiers and policemen wounded defending the church, destroyed city cemetery (UNMIK/KFOR Report March 18 1,500 K-Albanians rampage – burn Orthodox Church & up to 5 K-Serb houses in townK-Albanian crowd attempts to set Orthodox Church on fire in K-Serb village of Talinovce Church was set to fire (1749 hrs) – 5 K-Albanian males arrested)

Nekodim village, Sv. Ilija, destroyed, along with the cemetery (confirmed by local sources)

Talinovac village, St. Peter and Paul church, destroyed, along with the cemetery (from the UNMIK/KFOR Report, see above)

Sovtovic, the cemetery church of the Holy Virgin, destroyed, along with the cemetery (confirmed by local sources)

Kamenica

Church in Donja Slapasnica, Kosovska Kamenica (info from Kamenica) under investigation.

The church in Kamenica was stoned and some windows are broken

Stimlje

Church of St. Archangel Michael in Stimlje, built in 1920 (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 18: K-Serbian house & Orthodox Church set on fire)

Pristina

Church of St. Nicholas (19th cenutry), Pristina town (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 18 - Rioters attack Old Orthodox Church in Taslixhe – gunfire in area Orthodox priest & 5 K-Serbian families evacuated by KFOR from Old Orthodox Church SPU officer shot & injured during attempt to secure Old Orthodox Church Orthodox Church, UN Habitat office & 3 UNMIK Police vehicles set on fire) The church burned to the ground, along with the parish home and all church archives (confirmed by priest Fr. Miroslav Popadic)

Kosovo Polje

Church of St Nicholas, Kosovo Polje, burned inside and desecrated, built in 1940, (local Serbian priest visited the church and found burned icons and inventory)

Church of St. Katherine, Bresje nr. Kosovo Polje, vandalized inside, built in 20th century, (visited by the local Serbian priest)

Vucitrn

Church of St. Elias, Vucitrn, 19th c., burned (UNMIK/KFOR Report: Orthodox Church set on fire in Vucitrn)

Churchin Priluzje (UNMIK/KFOR Report March 19: Orthodox Church set on fire in K-Serbian village of Priluzje)

Obilic

Church of St. Michael in Obilic, new church, large fire set up inside the church (UNMIK/KFOR Report: March 18 - Orthodox Church, numerous K-Serbian houses and apartment blocks set on fire)

Kosovska Mitrovica

Church of St. Sava, Mitrovica South, set on fire twice in a few days (burned) (UNMIK/KFOR Report - March 18: Molotov cocktails thrown into perimeter of KFOR-guarded Orthodox Church in South, Church & several neighboring houses set on fire Local Fire Brigade fight house fires but not Church, which is severely damaged)

Podujevo

Church of St. Andreas, Podujevo, built in 1929, destroyed on March 18, Czech media confirm that the cemetery was destroyed. (Czech officer confirmed that coffins were dug up and bones of dead scattered, UNMIK/KFOR Report - March 18 Orthodox Church set on fire)

Istok

Church of St. Peter and Paul (UNMIK/KFOR Report: Explosion damages Orthodox Church in the town)

(March 18 - UNMIK/KFOR Report: Explosion in Orthodox Church, Baja village)

Vitina

Church damaged by grenades on March 17 (according to UNMIK/KFOR Report: 4 K-Serbian houses set on fire & Orthodox Church badly damaged)

Six mortar grenades were fired at the Decani Monastery on March 17, around 22.00. No damage was made to the holy site (confirmed by KFOR and monks of the monastery).